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Gregg Williams exhibits a fanatical devotion to the concept of necessary roughness.

The Saints' defensive coordinator is quick to remind his players that defenses are "respected when they're feared."

He also won't punish players if they're flagged for late hits or unnecessary roughness, as long as the penalty resulted from aggression, not "stupidity."

Defensive end Will Smith explains it this way: "The intimidation part is just the way we play, just playing hard and fast to the ball. ... It hurts a little more when you have multiple people hitting you at the same time instead of just one person."

Middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma said creating a fear factor is as fundamental to Williams' approach as being in the right spot on the field.

"You can only be feared if you're hitting," Vilma said.

Still, some outside of New Orleans have wondered aloud whether Saints defenders have taken Williams' philosophy a little too far - namely, Vikings coach Brad Childress, whose club opens its season in New Orleans on Thursday night.

This week, Childress stood by an earlier assertion that the Saints appeared to be trying to use late hits to hurt quarterback Brett Favre in last season's NFC championship game.

Had he been making a presentation to a jury, Childress might have replayed video of three plays in particular. One was a hi-low hit by tackle Remi Ayodele and former Saints end Bobby McCray, which resulted in an interception by Vilma.

No flag was thrown, but McCray was later fined for the low hit.

Saints' Williams Preaches Necessary Roughness - WWL - AM870 | FM105.3 | News | Talk | Sports

Pete

That's my kind of defense!!

Saint_LB

Couldn't we have just gone about our business without feeling the need to make that statement? If I'm a referee and I read this, I might decide to watch a little closer.

IMO, and I know I'm going to catch heck for this one, but to me it kinda gives Childress' claim legs.

DRsaints

Eh, I think they understand. It's just the defensive mentality to get at the quarterback and to be fearless.

jnormand

Nah. It's all a game. Childress is trying to lobby the refs and Williams is trying to scare the hell out of Childress and Favre by making it sound like he's not afraid to let his dogs off the chains.

I love this. This is Williams' way of telling Chilly to shut up and stop whining.

TheOak

Childress crying brought all the attention that will ever be brought to this game. No forum post will come close... The referees will watch as close as they can because of all the crying about Favre from fans, reporters, columnists, and Favre and Childress them selves.

I have played the game on many levels. This is a brutal sport. There is nothing gentlemanly about it except the coin toss. It is 60 minutes of grown men throwing them selves at other grown men attempting to break every bone in the others body. Playing at 100% speed is trying to leave your oponents teeth at the point of contact and his body 5 yards behind in one hit.

The brutalness of our defense is no more than Defenses of the Steelers, Raiders, Bears of past. There were just no panzy asses crying about them in those days.

I am going to ignore that last statement as if it never happened since we are on the same side of the ball.

As far as for Late hits... a late hit 1-2 seconds after the release is difficult to avoid when your running full speed weighing 280 lbs.. I do not condone the blatant late hits 3-5 seconds after the whistle or ball release.

It takes two full steps to change your direction when running full out, and good luck trying to stop on a dime when your built like a Mack truck.

However i can also say... If their offensive Linemen would do their job there would be no hits on Favre at all.

saintfan

Brad Childress is a ssy

Pete

Well said SF lol well said

OldMaid

You said it best here.

I DO NOT condone any player on any team trying to late hit,cripple an opponent.
NFL is a tough game.
You get hit. Tackled.
Other teams will tackle Farve. I do wish Coach Williams would keep his comments like these to Saints team meetings.

homerj07

Chilly Willy needs to get his self a set of testicles